Why a Campaign to ‘Reclaim’ Women Writers’ Names Is So Controversial “Critics say Reclaim Her Name fails to reflect the array of reasons authors chose to publish under male pseudonyms” Nora McGreevy reports in Smithsonian Magazine about the Reclaim Her Name project recently launched by the Women’s Prize for Fiction in conjunction with Baileys (of Irish […]
Is the literary trend toward passive women progress? Maybe we’ve been misreading Lynn Steger Strong writes that Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy “broke open a new and surprisingly vital form: the novel of passivity.” Strong is happy to see that, for the last decade or so, women’s fiction has been recognized for probing what the novel—“forms
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of author Ray Bradbury. “I can imagine all kinds of worlds and places, but I cannot imagine a world without Bradbury.” Neil Gaiman To celebrate this event, writers, actors, and librarians will present the Ray Bradbury Centennial Read-a-Thon from August 22 through September 5, 2020. “I was
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Looking at Epic Poetry Through 21st-Century Eyes “New translations of the ‘Aeneid,’ ‘Beowulf’ and other ancient stories challenge some of our modern-day ideas.” Classical epic poetry has been the basis of the Western literary canon for centuries and has helped shape social values and political identities as well as literary history. But new translations of
Viewing Literature as a Lab for Community Ethics The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront many bioethical questions, such as, when resources are limited, which lives should be saved and which sacrificed? Maren Tova Linett, author of Literary Bioethics, argues that fiction, with its ability to present imagined worlds, offers the chance to explore
Get ready for tales of knights, battles, court intrigue and more. It’s Medieval Reads Day! Source: Medieval Reads Day According to Book Riot, it’s Medieval Reads Day, and they’ve got you covered with the following articles: 10 of the Best Medieval Romance Stories 10 Books with Our Favorite Fictional Knights 8 Courtly Medieval Female Writers
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The Case for Teaching Depressing Books High school English teacher Sahar Mustafah writes that her students often ask when they’re going to read happy books. Young people, quite naturally, equate “happy” with a safe, uneventful existence. Genocide, sexual assault, poverty, racism, climate change—it’s hard to find any reason to be excited about reading these subjects
My mistress Melancholy Mary Ann Lund, associate professor in Renaissance English literature at the University of Leicester in the UK, discusses Robert Burton (1577-1640) and his The Anatomy of Melancholy, “the most pervasive and elusive of Renaissance diseases.” “One of the great achievements of The Anatomy of Melancholy is to draw together the collective wisdom
In honor of International Women’s Day, here are some suggested books about women: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin Woman As Healer by Jeanne Achterberg Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine
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The Million Basic Plots Novelist and screenwriter Ned Beauman laments the existence of the website TV Tropes, which breaks down the plots of all forms of popular-culture storytelling into such minute parts as to prevent him from coming up with any original plot elements. I don’t write fiction but I love reading it, and I
